I do not want to beat my own drum, but I think people like us are the ones that have realistic ideas of using nature, conservation, and so on. We see what is happening. Both good and ( sadly, mostly) bad.
Different "branches" of bushcraft.
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I took mine foraging, carried in a sling. They ate what was seasonally available just as I did. As they grew older they toddled after me, gathered fruits with me, picked herbs, cut willows and rushes, and they still relish the seasonal changes, look forward to things like elderflower fritters and presse´, bramble jam, cranachan with wild fruits, beechnuts and hazelnuts, the sweet sticky yew arials, chicken of the woods, jelly ears and chanterelles. Rowan jelly and wild strawberries, and interesting salads of wild greens.
I taught them to make fire, I taught them to read the land, how man changes it to suit himself, to watch the trees and be aware of the animals and birds around us. Climbed hills, ploutered through sphagnum moss soaked moors, wandered down burns and along rivers and shorelines, and always there were woods. We're very lucky here, we're surrounded by woodlands. Rich lowland woodlands, incredibly diverse.
Basically I just helped fill, and open up, enquiring little minds
and encouraged them to make and use tools. They spent most Summers sleeping in the garden. The back lawn needed re-sown every year when the schools went back.Does that make it bushcraft ? It certainly ticks the boxes.
I miss having children around.
M
I don't know, I'm inclined to be optimistic. It's pretty much accepted now that being outdoors really does do wonders for mental and physical health. Children are greener than their parents, they're aware of the pollution, the over population, the extinction of animals, invertebrates, etc., and they're rich in easy access knowledge. They just need to push a little more for practical application
I don't think Ruskin would have been comfortable in any age
I enjoyed reading his stuff for the prose and some of the intentions, particularly around education, but thought Morris's Useful Work vs Useless Toil a good read as a brief statement of a social/aesthetic philosophy and News From Nowhere is just a lovely romance. Not anti-Modern, just a different idea of what it might be.
I took mine foraging, carried in a sling. They ate what was seasonally available just as I did. As they grew older they toddled after me, gathered fruits with me, picked herbs, cut willows and rushes, and they still relish the seasonal changes, look forward to things like elderflower fritters and presse´, bramble jam, cranachan with wild fruits, beechnuts and hazelnuts, the sweet sticky yew arials, chicken of the woods, jelly ears and chanterelles. Rowan jelly and wild strawberries, and interesting salads of wild greens.
I taught them to make fire, I taught them to read the land, how man changes it to suit himself, to watch the trees and be aware of the animals and birds around us. Climbed hills, ploutered through sphagnum moss soaked moors, wandered down burns and along rivers and shorelines, and always there were woods. We're very lucky here, we're surrounded by woodlands. Rich lowland woodlands, incredibly diverse.
Basically I just helped fill enquiring little minds
Does that make it bushcraft ? It certainly ticks the boxes.
I miss having children around.
M
Two words: Grand Children!
Another fan of William Morris here.I don't think Ruskin would have been comfortable in any age
You have described me to a t. ! I realy dislike modern life. I live in a house but have no tv microwave etc. Health issues make it nessasary to be in a house most of the year, but as soon as it starts to get lighter and warmer in the spring I need to be away from indoors as much as possible. I get what I call gypsy feet
as with others who are getting older and less able than in my youth I have to constantly refine my kit and length of time I spend out and the weather is a major factor too. I never thought I'd say it but hurrah for mobile phones as I can get weather updates and decide too go home early, fit (ish) and dry instead of aching and wet.
Modern life has it's advantages. Medical science and technology are just a couple I can think of.
I don't think of my camping trips as escapes from modern life but something more like a holiday.
Part of getting away from it all is the fact that you appreciate what you have far more when you get back home.
A long hot bath for example.
I don't think of my camping trips as escapes from modern life but something more like a holiday.
Part of getting away from it all is the fact that you appreciate what you have far more when you get back home.
A long hot bath for example.
For me I think it's that most of my working life was outdoors in all weather's and my time off was spent outdoors camping aswell.
Yes I can appreciate my electric kettle and washing machine and hot shower when I get back home (my only real concessions to modernity apart from my mobile phone)
But I still feel better when I'm living under my tarp in the woods. I get stagnant indoors.... and I hate housework! I don't mind camp chores though. I'm just one of modern life's misfits. My best pal reckons I'd have made a good pioneer in the good old wild west... and If I do watch films it's usualy westerns. I think I'd have made a great cowgirl
Yes I can appreciate my electric kettle and washing machine and hot shower when I get back home (my only real concessions to modernity apart from my mobile phone)
But I still feel better when I'm living under my tarp in the woods. I get stagnant indoors.... and I hate housework! I don't mind camp chores though. I'm just one of modern life's misfits. My best pal reckons I'd have made a good pioneer in the good old wild west... and If I do watch films it's usualy westerns. I think I'd have made a great cowgirl
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